The V Best Songs In GTA Radio History

As I sit here in work my mind drifts from matters such as job responsibilities to more jovial pursuits such as murder, car theft, and the endless slaughter of pedestrians. Yesterday saw the release day of the biggest game of the year.

Aping the inanities and cliches of radio DJs was one of the series' earliest innovations, before music licensing. Since then, more than any other game, the GTA series (from Vice City onwards) has used licensed music on its selectable radio stations to create an evocative real-world scenario. I find there are now tracks I hear on real-world radio that instantly take me back to doing something horrific (or hilarious) in one of the GTA games. Here are my five favorites.

I. Kiss -- "Strutter"

Because each radio station was cued up to take up exactly one game-day to cycle through, you'd often get a save file stuck on playing one particular song every time you loaded it. In my case, after beating San Andreas, I used to launch all my games from the airstrip on the 3rd island, simply because I had a Harrier Jump Jet there.

Every time I would step into that jet, readying my collection of missiles for a heavily pixellated approximation of Las Vegas, Kiss' "Strutter" would start up. At first, I would change the channel. Eventually I came to embrace it. Now I can't fire missiles in a desert scenario without this song.

II. Toto -- "Africa"

Not all GTA memories involve mass slaughter. Sometimes you're just cruising around in a car you stole from an old lady moments ago, and it turns out that old lady has the exact right song on the radio. The sun's going down over Vice City, you're cresting around the top of the first island; it's so perfect you don't even want to lean out the window and fire your Uzi at the guy that just cut you up. If any song perfectly encapsulated aimlessly cruising in a simulated version of the 1980s, it's surely "Africa."

We Recommend

"Hollywood Swinging" was also used during the dance challenge you had to do on the beach. I watched my roommate try that for, at least, two hours. He got mad that I was laughing at him, so I tried it. Nailed it.

@gavin.cleaver While Saints Row IV didn't have nearly as robust a music library as any of the GTA games, I really liked how they used specific songs for comedic effect... when you look at the track listings, you're kinda like "Why the fuck did they put Paula Abdul or Robert Palmer on here?", until you see it used in a mission.